5 California harbors plan for future tsunamis

Storms swirled across the Central Coast on the first day of March and first day of April. A wave blasts against the Santa Cruz harbor lighthouse during the March 1 storm.

Charlie Witmer

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Storms swirled across the Central Coast on the first day of March and first day of April. A wave blasts against the Santa Cruz harbor lighthouse during the March 1 storm.

Charlie Witmer

Five California harbors are preparing for future tsunamis under a new state project that arms them with maps that identify potential problem areas.

Officials with the California Geological Survey said Friday the participating harbors include Santa Cruz, Crescent City, San Diego, Los Angeles/Long Beach, and Ventura.

There are also plans to expand the mapping to the more than 100 marinas and harbors. The maps take into account tsunamis of different strengths and sources, allowing harbor managers to draw up emergency plans to get vessels to safety.

Next week is the 50th anniversary of the 1964 Alaska earthquake. A magnitude-9.2 quake in Alaska triggered tsunami waves that killed 12 people in Northern California.

How to survive a tsunami, according to the California Emergency Management Agency:

If you feel a strong earthquake while near the coast:

1. Protect yourself during the quake. If you're indoors drop under a sturdy table or object and cover your head. If you're outdoors, move to a clear area away from trees, cliffs, and other hazards, and then drop to the ground.

2. Move to high ground. As soon as it is safe to move go to higher ground. Do not wait for an official tsunami warning.

3. Stay there. Remain on high ground because waves from a tsunami may arrive for eight hours or longer.

Things you should know about tsunamis:

• A tsunami is a series of waves or surges most commonly caused by an earthquake beneath the sea floor.

• An unusual lowering of ocean water, exposing the sea floor, is a warning of a tsunami or other large wave. This “draw back” means the water will surge back strongly.

• Tsunami waves are unlike normal coastal waves. Tsunamis are more like a river in flood or a sloping mountain of water and filled with debris.

• Tsunamis cannot be surfed. They have no face for a surfboard to dig into and are usually filled with debris.

• Large tsunamis may reach heights of twenty to fifty feet along the coast and even higher in a few locales. The first tsunami surge is not the highest and the largest surge may occur hours after the first wave. It is not possible to predict how many surges or how much time will elapse between waves be for a particular tsunami.

• The entire California Coast is vulnerable to tsunamis. The Crescent City Harbor on California’s North Coast suffered significant tsunami damage as recently as 2006. A dozen people were killed in California following the 1964 Alaska earthquake.

• Beaches, lagoons, bays, estuaries, tidal flats and river mouths are the most dangerous places to be. It is rare for a tsunami to penetrate more than a mile inland.

Blazes raging in forests and woodlands across California have taken the life of a firefighter and forced hundreds of people to flee their homes as crews continue to battle the flames from the air and the ground.